Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General What with persuasion fail in this game?

They really should just hide the stat highlight if that isn't important so the player will always pick what they want on the first try without being feel like the game is pushing them toward a certain options.

The stat check is probably an EA-only thing anyway since it used to have competing stat when you persuade someone, IIRC.

I'll give that a try next, then: I've been mostly concentrating on the replies tagged with the stats where my character scores highly and not actually giving a proper RP-type response. I'll be more than happy if that's the correct way to play it, but in that case I agree that the tags should probably be removed.

The one that annoys me is the Sebille and Zaleskar conversation. There's no way that by the time you meet him normally you'll have levelled your Persuasion stat high enough to pass the check, and all of the other options result in combat; you can't even back out of the conversation once you've started it.

And as he's a pretty valuable vendor, I eventually just removed Sebille from the party and got someone else to talk to him so I could buy stuff. I think I'll go back and kill him once I've cleared up the rest of the island, or maybe even speak to him if I've scored some decent Persuasion gear by then.

This is my second play-through; I stopped my first play-through after getting to Jahan, as I had a better idea of how to play by then and wanted a more focussed party.

But I find it irritating that the respec mirror isn't available before finishing Fort Joy; it should be available from the get-go, as first time through, it's VERY easy to create a crappy party that will struggle in some of the harder fights.

It's also annoying that due to how slowly the game doles out skill points, you'll want to specialise each party member, but then end up in situations where even though another member of your party might have high Persuasion, the character you need to have it doesn't.

I'd even go so far as to say in the case of the above mentioned conversation, the game guides players to spec in such a fashion as to ensure almost everyone will fail it.

Reason for that thinking?
Sebille's default class is Rogue, and her background reinforces that idea (with possibly Shadowblade being an even better fit). That means the novice player will be inclined to spec her abilities in to Stealth and Thievery (the wiser player would avoid Stealth completely and stick to just Thievery, or even leave that to a completely different party member, such as Fane who doesn't need lockpicks, making for huge savings).
Then The Red Prince gets an inherent bonus to Persuasion, meaning it makes sense to make him the group's Persuasion specialist.
And who isn't going to take The Red Prince in their party?

All of which means that virtually nobody will spec multiple characters, let alone Sebille, in to Persuasion.

That's the kind of design decision that tempts me to whip out Cheat Engine, but I'm determined my first complete play-through will be cheat-free.
But I also understand that not all characters should be able to pass all persuasion checks, and that this is a consequence of the player's levelling choices.

Second or third time around though? Anything goes.

It appears that with persuasion it is less about the stat in brackets and more about the type of response. Certain NPCs respond better to certain types of responses. A rogue may respond better to strength/wit than intel. Someone with an army at their back likely won't be persuaded by a STR check.

I had Sebille in my party and my main char had skilled Persuasion since the start and I didn't have to fight him at all.

Yeah, Sebille is my main and the only way for me to avoid the fight is to remove her, as mentioned.
I'm guessing this only affects Sebille mains.

I think I said so above already but I'm of the opinion that the only thing that matters for these checks should be the points invested into persuasion and some sort of hidden 'susceptibility modifier' of the concerned NPC to a particular avenue of persuasion (i.e. threatening vs. pleading vs. complimenting etc.). The attributes feel forced and oftentimes illogical (combat prowess is usually identified by STR, but a high-FIN rogue or high-INT mage can just as well use their abilities to intimidate people, not every INT check needs to be a knowledge check, etc.).

I honestly think persuasion as a stat should be removed. The option to play peacefully and sweet-talk or fail / murder everyone should be there by default. Also a side annoyance with persuasion is when NPCs run up to you and talk to the person in your party closest to them, rather than the one I leveled persuasion on. It's annoying!

Imo, they should bake Barter into Persuasion, and then bake Sneak into Thievery as sneak is p. damn useless on it's own. It would make sense that if you're good at talking you'd also be good at trade, and if you're looking to be a thief you'd also be naturally stealthy.

They should just ditch the stat requirements and have you think which persuasion answer is best + persuasion skill check. It seems to somewhat work like that already, I remember losing a 20 wits check and reloading and passing that same check but with 11 constitution [hero].